Blog, Divorce

We posted an article about how to decide the amount of money on child support in Korea. Now, after everything was settled, whether inside or outside of the court, the custodial parent should raise the children while the non-custodial parent should pay the money to support the child. But what if the non-custodial parent refuses to pay the money? What kind of punishment is waiting for the so-called “deadbeat” father or mother?

Punishment For Not Paying Child Support in Korea

1. Order for Implementation

First, the “Order for Implementation.” According to Family Litigation Act, when a parent fails to fulfill the legal obligation related to their children, such as paying the money, the court may order them to perform the obligation within a certain period of time.

Article 64 (Order for Implementation)

(1) When a person who is required to implement an obligation falling under any of the following subparagraphs pursuant to the judgement, adjudication, conciliation protocol, decision substituting conciliation or child support order fails to perform the obligation without any justifiable reason, a family court may, upon request of the party concerned, order the person to perform the obligation within a specific period:

1. 1. 1. Obligation related to property, such as payment of money
      2. Obligation to hand over an infant
      3. Obligation to allow visitation to his or her children

2. Paying A Fine

But what if the parent still doesn’t pay the money, despite the court’s order? Then the court can punish them by imposing a fine.

Article 67 (Sanctions against Non-performance of Liability)

(1) When the party concerned or interested person violates any order under Article 29, 63-2 (1), 63-3 (1) or (2), or 64 or a disposition under Article 62, without any justifiable reasons, a family court, conciliation committee, or judge in charge of conciliation may, by ruling, punish the party or interested person by a fine for negligence not exceeding ten million won, either ex officio, or upon request of the rightful claimant.

3. Detention

If the parent doesn’t pay the money for three or more terms (for instance, the father was supposed to pay the money once a month, but he didn’t pay for three months), then the court can send the parent to the detention center for less than 30 days.

Article 68 (Sanctions against Special Non-performance of Liability)

(1) When an obligor subject to an order under Article 63-3 (4) or 64 falls under any of the following subparapraphs, a family court may, by ruling, punish the obligor by detention until his or her liability is performed, within the limit of 30 days, upon request of a rightful claimant:

1. 1. 1. When a person subject to an order to make a periodical payment of money fails to perform his or her liability over three or more terms without any justifiable reason
      2. When a person subject to an order to hand over an infant fails to perform his or her liability within 30 days, even after being subject to sanctions under Article 67 (1), without any justifiable reason
      3. When a person subject to an order to make a lump sum payment of a child support fails to perform his or her liability within 30 days without any justifiable reason

But what if the parent still doesn’t pay the money, after being detained for less than 30 days? Now we are getting serious. There are several kinds of punishments prepared for these parents.

First, their driver’s license can be suspended. However, they can be excused if they use their driver’s license to make a living (for instance, their job is a trucker, bus driver, etc.) and their livelihood would be certainly in danger once their driver’s license gets suspended.

Second, their name, age, job, and the amount of money they didn’t pay would be made into a list and released to the public for three years. However, they can be excused if there was a valid reason they couldn’t pay the money, like being dead, disappeared, or bankrupt.

Third, if the money they didn’t pay is more than 50 million won, or it’s more than 30 million won and they left Korea more than three times in the past year (or they stayed abroad for more than six months), then they can be banned from leaving Korea. This is to prevent them from hiding their money or property to other countries.

Forth, if they haven’t paid the money for more than a year after being detained according to the Article 68 mentioned above, then now it is treated as a crime. They can be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than 10 million won.